Kitimat Ice Demons capture CIHL regular season title with two wins over Hazelton Wolverines in Hazelton

As the West Division and the CIHL regular season titles were clinched by the Kitimat Ice Demons two weekend wins, 6-2 Saturday and 6-3 Sunday, over the pesky Hazelton Wolverines, the level of confusion just got a little worse in the East Division. First, the 100 Mile House Bears were unable to muster enough players to take the trip to Houston to face the Luckies in the expected pair of games that could have settled the division title. Then the Smithers Steelheads threw another monkey wrench into the mix with a pair of 5-3 wins over the Williams Lake Stampeders, who were hoping for four points to keep pace with the Omenica Ice and the Luckies in the quest for first place. Likely, but yet to be confirmed, the four points will be forfeited by the Bears and should catapult the Luckies to sole possession of first place in the Division, with one remaining game against the formidable Omenica Ice for the bye in the first round of the playoffs. First, in the west, in a pair of divisional games, the Kitimat Ice Demons put a blunt stop to the Hazelton Wolverines’ four-game winning streak, with two relatively easy wins in a pair of very toughly played and lightly-refereed games that wound up with a series of individual scraps as the Sunday game wound down. Wolverines had been hoping to show their improved performances of late were really based on a maturing team, but they found the Ice Demons just too big an opponent to push around. With The Ice Demons wound up their season with 28 points from 13 wins, a single loss and two shootout losses, one to Smithers and one to the Houston Luckies. In Smithers, in what was expected to be a pair of goaltender battles, 16 goals were scored as the Steelheads emerged 5-3 winners both days. The losses dealt the end to the Stamps hopes of winning the East Division for the second year in succession. Smithers has one game remaining in its schedule against Hazelton at home next Saturday and Hazelton has a Friday night game against Terrace before Terrace is scheduled depart for 100 Mile House for two all-important games against the Bears. So while Smithers has locked down second place and the extra-game home ice advantage in the western division playoffs, they will have some control of who their opponents will be. A win against Hazelton will mathematically eliminate the Wolverines. Terrace, with three games left could conceivably tie Smithers at 18 points if the Steelheads were to lose to Hazelton. Still a few questions remain to be answered before the playoffs start January 19.

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